


on the heels of war and wonder

by nosfelixculpa



Category: Storm Hawks (Cartoon)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, Childhood Friends, Established Relationship, F/M, Found Family, Friendship, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), Post-Canon, Spongebob Voice: The Gang's All Here, Team as Family, Time Skips, i hope u enjoy the children revamped from my own personal brain, if anyone is wondering where domiwick is i dont care hes probs dead whatever, ive been trying to plan/write this fic for 5 years everyone, kick my ass to make sure i keep on top of this shit pls
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 08:55:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29681502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nosfelixculpa/pseuds/nosfelixculpa
Summary: “if we’ve gotta go down, at least we’re going down together.”piper smiled up at him gratefully, her skin sickly pale, carnelian eyes dull and foggy. he blinked, and suddenly unimaginable power was coursing through him, distracting him from the hot, humid wind blowing around him; a terrifying reminder of the wastelands that waited for them below, should they fail.he stared down at his hands in a mixture of relief and confusion as they glowed cyan before him, breath heavy in his ears.power hungry, maddened screams turned to ones of agony, before shards of crystal flew past, missing him by inches.cyclonia, battered and bruised, plummeted below the cloud line.then, blood red sky was swapped for a glowing, ethereal landscape. the farside.------four years after entering the farside, the storm hawks have almost given up hope of ever locating cyclonis and fulfilling their mission. but a sudden chain of events leads them into what could be the hardest fight of their lives.
Relationships: + whole squadron friendship, Aerrow/Piper (Storm Hawks), Finn/OC
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	on the heels of war and wonder

“Are we quite ready to begin, friends?” a clear, youthful voice rang out, echoing throughout the dimly lit cave, joined only by the steady drip of water falling from the staggered ceiling.

“I suppose so,” another voice cut in, this one gruff and unamused. Though a cloak obscured most of his expression - pointed at the top, before continuing down over his eyes and nose, curving inward at the bottom to mimic the beak of a bird - it was clear the speaker would rather be anywhere else. “I still don’t see why this is necessary _every year._ ”

“It is necessary, Black,” an elderly reminder began sagely, silencing all his companions. “For our future.”

Ignoring the unconvinced grumble he gained in response, the elder turned his attention to the fourth, and final member of the party, whom had yet to speak. “Arygyn?”

“Starting to feel like I only get invited to these things to do all the sparkly stuff,” he joked good-naturedly,before waving his sceptre with a flourish, prompting various images to project onto the clump of stalagmites protruding down from above them.

“Four years ago,” the bright youth from before took over, talking with such enthusiasm and gumption that some would believe this was his first time reviewing the epic tale; not the nth.

“We witnessed the fall of Cyclonia. The _liberation_ of Atmos.”

“Oh, wonderful. The same as last year,” Black butted in sarcastically, arms crossed in annoyance.

“ _However_ ,” the golden robed senior interjected firmly, casting his subordinate a stern glance.

The young bearded narrator to be rudely interrupted, blinked in thanks at his master before proceeding. “We have recieved news, from the Oracle.”

“She’s back?” Black hazarded a guess, still sounding thrilled as ever, question laced with surprise along with something else; something fearful.

“Not yet,” the master informed, head shaking before bowing solemnly. “But she is coming.”

“What would you have us do, Master?” the young, blue robed guardian asked respectfully, earlier demeanour replaced with one of quiet determination.

“We must warn the sky knight,” was the response, accompanied by a self-assuring nod.

“Arygyn,” the seemingly ancient man addressed for a second time. “I leave this with you.”

Sensing that the meeting had come to a close, all but one fell silent in concentration as their robes became lined with a silvery glow, engulfing them in light; before revealing them once more as elegant, brightly feathered birds.

Arygyn held a carefree smile on his face as his companions departed, allowing it to drop once he heard the flap of wings fade. Only then did he let a heavy sigh escape him, head dropping with it as though his whole body had deflated.

“Always me to do the dirty work,” he muttered to himself, straightening up to see all too familiar events of the past still flickering across translucent rock.

“I sure hope you’re ready for this, kids.”

*

_“If we’ve gotta go down, at least we’re going down together.”_

_Piper smiled up at him gratefully, her skin sickly pale, carnelian eyes dull and foggy. He blinked, and suddenly unimaginable power was coursing through him, distracting him from the hot, humid wind blowing around him; a terrifying reminder of the wastelands that waited for them below, should they fail._

_He stared down at his hands in a mixture of relief and confusion as they glowed cyan before him, breath heavy in his ears._

_Power hungry, maddened screams turned to ones of agony, before shards of crystal flew past, missing him by inches._

_Cyclonia, battered and bruised, plummeted below the cloud line._

_Then, blood red sky was swapped for a glowing, ethereal landscape. The Farside._

Aerrow woke with a start, sitting up to feel the cool, ghostly blue light filtering through the shutters on his face. Before he could get too lost in thought, a bundle of fur threw itself at him, churring happily.

“Mornin’, pal,” the boy chuckled, feeling a little easier as he took a moment to scratch behind Radarr’s ears. The creature seemed to notice his distracted demeanour, tilting his head questioningly.

“I’m fine,” Aerrow reassured, rolling his eyes at his friend’s pointed stare. “Just a dream.”

The sky knight left it at that, pulling on his uniform and sheathing his blades into their holders on his back, hoping to shake off the funny feeling the dream had left him with. He was far from a stranger to nightmares, but to have one so specific, so suddenly. It left an uneasy knot in the pit of his stomach.

The restless feeling only worsened as he looked up from fastening a leather sheath containing a single, small dagger around his waist, eyes drawn to his old uniform lying in the corner of the room. How old had he been last time he wore that uniform? Fifteen? Sixteen?

Four years had felt both like a lifetime, and like nothing at all. He eyed himself in the mirror, took in his loose, cloth shirt, trousers patched in at the knees; and felt so, young. Perhaps younger than he had back then.

Back home, they had always known where they stood, what they were working toward - that uniform had been a symbol of hope, a symbol of protection.

Out here? It was effectively worthless.

The Farside and its inhabitants had no need for sky knights and squadrons. Heck, Aerrow wasn’t even sure there were any laws to abide by at all.

That second part was what worried him the most. In a world of no limits, how far would Cyclonis be willing to go - and why hadn’t she started yet.

Sighing, he gave himself a little shake, making his way out of the room, Radarr on his heels. He wasn’t about to put a downer on his day, or anyone else’s.

The knot in his stomach finally loosened, significantly, as he stepped out onto the bridge, spotting Piper bent over the round table studiously, maps scattered over every spare inch.

“Morning,” Aerrow greeted, raising an eyebrow at the state of the table as he got closer. With how chaotically everything was piled up and scribbled on, he had no idea how she managed to decipher what was what. “Whatcha doin?”

“Oh, hey,” Piper answered, looking slightly startled as she glanced over, like she hadn’t noticed him come in. She straightened up, tucking a few strands of now short hair behind her ear, pencil pressed to her lips in thought. “I’ve just been trying to mark anywhere we haven’t fully checked out yet.”

Aerrow nodded knowingly, not at all surprised. She was ever the planner, and rightly so. Even after all this time there were still so many stretches of land they hadn’t discovered.

He had been busy examining what little he could make out of the documents in front of him when he felt Piper’s gaze on him, and turned toward her expectantly.

“Are you okay?” she asked, brow furrowing into a frown as she studied him. “You seem kinda…”

She tilted her head as she trailed off, the movement so similar to Radarr that Aerrow had to fight an involuntary smile.

“Spooked,” she finished, and the redhead cursed her ability to read him like a book. A very open, very simple book. With pictures.

“I’m fine,” Aerrow reassured, already for the second time that day, offering a lopsided smile. “Weird dream.”

“You wanna talk about it?” she asked gently, turning to face him fully, leaning against the table casually. “It could be important.”

He knew she was right. In fact, he agreed with her. But he couldn’t do it right now. It was way, _way_ too early to start picking his brain.

“Maybe later,” Aerrow deflected with a shrug. He watched as Piper looked from him, to Radarr who was perched on his shoulder. The pair seemed to have a silent conversation - Aerrow couldn’t quite decide whether to be offended or amused as Radarr shook his head despairingly in response to the girl’s raised eyebrows.

Whatever they were saying, they seemed to come to an agreement, Piper reaching out to pat Radarr’s head before leaning up onto her toes, pressing a quick kiss to Aerrow’s cheek.“Whenever you’re ready.”

It was Aerrow’s turn to raise his eyebrows at that. Sure, she _said_ that. But he knew she would’ve gotten it out of him by the end of the day whether he liked it or not. It was part of her charm.

He didn’t have a chance to voice his playful retort, as Finn’s voice summoned them from the outer deck.

“Come on, lovebirds! It’s game time.”

As if on cue, a huge, dragon-like creature raised its head up behind Finn, letting out a sound akin to a throaty chortle.

The trio left on the bridge laughed amongst themselves as the sharpshooter let out an undignified scream at the sudden noise, turning to chastise the beast haughtily.

The creatures - Sheerdrakes, as they had christened them, due to the delicate, gossamer skin of their wings, and hidden beneath their thick, black scales - had made themselves known pretty early on, after the team accidentally stumbled into their nesting area. Luckily for them, it turned out they were just like giant, clumsy children. Children who wanted to play. A lot.

The general rules of the game were pretty simple, two teams, one objective: one member of each team had to cross from their skimmer to their teammates without falling or being stopped by a Sheerdrake.

“I’m coming for ya, Junko!” Finn cried, once teams were decided and starting positions were taken.

Fearlessly, he threw himself from his skimmer, veering every which way on the neck of the first creature as he struggled to keep his balance. The next in his path however, was not so merciful, diving playfully just as Finn leapt, only raising its head to knock the blond to the safety of the Condor - or in this instance, straight into Stork, who had been happily lounging on a deck chair next to the make shift scoreboard, a book of questionable origin open in his lap.

“Come on, buddy!” Finn rallied from where he was still sprawled on top of Stork, elbow rammed in the merb’s face. “Do it for Funko!”

He yelped as he got a hand shoved in his face, and was unceremoniously pushed off the suffering carrier pilot.

“Funko?” Stork repeated emptily, pausing to throw his teammate a look of pure judgement, before getting to his feet, brushing himself off.

“It’s our team name,” Finn explained unnecessarily, beaming proudly. “Came up with it myself.”

“Uh huh.”

Junko, hearing his fallen comrade’s words of encouragement, had circled round in the hopes of taking the opposing team by surprise. But, just as he threw Finn a thumbs up, he found himself spinning, having been knocked by one of the playful creatures, and went careening through the air, landing with a clank by Stork’s feet.

“Sometimes, I wonder why we even have a scoreboard,” the merb commented, adding another large zero to the left side of the board.

Aerrow grinned as he watched the three bicker below, practically strolling his way from dragon to dragon, whistling as he did so. Once he got to Piper, who waited patiently on her heliscooter, the drake below him raised his head helpfully to her level.

“Got a seat going spare?” Aerrow asked casually, leaning a shoulder against the rotor pole leisurely.

“Just keeping it warm for you,”she answered back, winking at him unabashedly, before offering a hand which he gladly took, swinging himself round to sit behind her. Seconds after he settled, warm air blew in his face, and he reached up to give the Sheerdrake a thankful pat on the snout, before it moved on to ruffle Piper’s hair fondly, making her giggle. They still weren’t entirely sure if it was a Binding thing, but they in particular seemed to hold an affinity with the creatures.

“Hey, no fair,” Finn whined, crossing his arms sullenly as he addressed a nearby drake. “How come you always help them and not us?”

The only response he got was a low growl before air was blown in his face, making him topple over into a sitting position. “Well, if that’s how you’re gonna be, fine.”

*

Far, far below, through twisting, endless caverns deprived of all natural light and life; a lone figure walked purposefully. Moving with such stealth, the only indication of their presence was the rhythmic drag of a cloak against jagged mineral, along with the faint, purple glow cast from the tip of a staff.

After what felt like an age,the tunnel widened out, revealing a vast, rounded grotto. Pulsing, icy crystals lined the walls, congregating in the centre wherein a huge tree-like monument stood. Upon closer inspection, the main features of this statue could be likened to that of a woman; with branches twisting up and around an elegantly structured face, lichen and moss draping down to mimic some form of robed clothing, before rooting out at the bottom; each tendril embedded with an amalgamation of coloured crystals.

“Oracle?” the travelling figure finally spoke, voice husky and feminine, but tinted with a strange, supernatural edge. “I’m in need of a favour.”

In response, the solid statue appeared to move, in a manner of speaking. A ghostly presence seemed to outline the timbered figure, fading in and out of vision; as if it took great effort to stay visible.

“I have nothing left for you, girl,” came a disembodied voice, well-spoken and maidenly, vibrating through the area it inhabited and beyond.

“I thought you controlled this world,” the visitor remarked, unperturbed by the less than warm welcome. She pulled back her hood, revealing violet eyes and black hair pulled back into a precise bun, the small wisps escaping around her ears the only thing to soften her callous expression. “Surely you can be of some use to me.”

“I lend you my power, and you give nothing in return,” the apparent Oracle retorted, accusation flashing briefly within their hollow eyes.

“I was even so kind as to forgive you for the loss of my knights; and for such a petty, mortal war.”

The dark-haired girl tensed as she spotted figures emerging from the shadows around her, with clear intent to capture - or worse. Steeling herself, she forced a carefully blank expression, backing away with palms raised in surrender.

“Kneel,” one soldier ordered, and though the near darkness made it hard to distinguish where they stood, a scythe soon informed her, as the sharp edge pressed against her neck in warning.

“Of course,” the girl obeyed, sickly sweet and innocent as she did so, carefully reaching for her belt.

There was only silence, and darkness, before a deafening, blinding explosion of purple light rippled through the room, drowning out the screams that followed.

*

Back on the surface, under Piper’s instruction the team had paired off into two groups for reconnaissance - Aerrow with Junko, Piper with Finn - whilst Stork and Radarr stayed put on the Condor.

The former had been making their way through dense, tangled grass and plantation that stretched up far above either boy’s height, with suitable caution; when Aerrow paused.

“Did you feel that?” the sky knight muttered, almost to himself, as he reached up to smooth down the hairs standing up at the back of his neck, eyes scanning warily.

“Huh?” Junko blinked at him blankly, before mirroring his leader’s movements nervously. “I don’t feel anything.”

Anything more he said was drowned out by a sudden rumbling, that seemed to reverberate across the entire dimension. Instinctively, the pair looked up, squinting as something glinted just above the cloud line.

“Is it…raining?” Junko asked hesitantly, pointing a freckled finger as the foreign object seemed to multiply, descending on them.

Aerrow narrowed his eyes in a futile attempt to identify what was currently falling from the sky, when a sharp, sudden pain flared up on the right side of his face. He reached up in surprise, eyes widening as his gloved fingers came away stained red.

Gritting his teeth, he surveyed the area hastily, drawing his blades and holding them up to shield his face, in hope of avoiding any further injury. All around them was open expanse of land; there was no real source of shelter to be seen.

Before he could give the order to simply run for it, he found himself being pulled into the undergrowth, prickly leaves and smooth foils catching on his clothes and limbs before he was pressed tightly against Junko’s chest, the wallop coiled over him, acting as a barrier.

*

Piper rolled her eyes at the loud, obnoxious voice currently going a mile a minute behind her - if there was anything worth finding out here, then it was definitely long gone by now.

She did her best to tune him out, moving through the shaded forestry cautiously, staff extended readily.

“Look, _all_ I’m saying is if the Sheerdrakes are biased - which they totally are - then it’s only fair that we bring some new creatures into the mix for Funko to truly _excel-_ ”

Piper shushed him hurriedly as something caught her attention, the shadows cast by the trees towering above them waving precariously, almost like a warning.

“What?” he huffed, looking mildly irritated. “I’m just saying-”

She shushed him again, harder, and he finally complied; expression morphing from annoyance to confusion.

“Do you hear something?”

Finn raised an eyebrow at her silently, looking ready to say something patronizing, before listening more closely.

The duo looked up in unison as leaves rustled loudly above them, disturbed, just in time to see something glimmer above them.

“Uh,” Finn started uneasily. “How come its never, rained here before?”

“I don’t think that’s rain,” Piper answered, voice rising in panic as she noticed the razor sharp, pointed edges of whatever was coming toward them.

One landed inches away from her feet, embedding itself in the ground. The mage yelped in surprise before reaching for her belt, quickly casting a glowing, opaque layer of protection above them; allowing what she could now make out to be crystal shards to bounce away ineffectually.

An eternity seemed to pass before the shower finally ceased. Eventually, Aerrow felt, rather than saw Junko raise his head gingerly, before freeing the sky knight from his grasp.

“Thanks, Junko,” Aerrow breathed as he straightened up, turning to check the wallop for any injuries. He was relieved to see what appeared to be shards of crystal, slide harmlessly off his friend’s back.

“We’d better get back to the Condor.”

As the pair returned to their skimmers to begin the journey home, Aerrow relayed the instruction to Finn and Piper, who thankfully seemed unharmed as they landed back in the hangar bay not too long after.

“Everybody okay?” he verified even so, scanning where they all still sat on their rides in the bay, one last time.

“Oh, we’re fine,” Finn answered, feigning nonchalance before the facade broke, and his expression became incredulous. “But what _was_ that?”

“I took a sample before we left,” Piper informed, revealing half a pale, violet crystal with a tiny triangle etched into the bottom. “Hopefully it’ll give us some answers.”

“Let’s hope that’s all it does,” Stork piped up ominously, having crept into the bay to find them all congregated.

“Bringing an unknown crystal on board with no idea what it does…”

He paused enigmatically as his eye twitched. “That’s never ended badly before.”

He looked at Finn pointedly, who crossed his arms in self defense. “Oh come on, this is totally not the same.”

“Whatever it is,” Piper interjected reassuringly. “I only took half, so it’s already a dud.”

“ _See,_ ” Finn retorted indignantly, pulling a face at the paranoid carrier pilot until something seemed to catch his eye.

“Dude, are you bleeding?”

“Huh?” Aerrow answered in surprise, hand going to his neck as all eyes turned on him.

Oh, yeah.

It was mostly dry now, and upon reminder, Aerrow noticed the way it caked his skin uncomfortably. The injury hadn’t been that serious, he knew, but somewhere in between it and Junko’s quick thinking must’ve smeared it around; making it look worse than it was.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” he insisted truthfully, as he felt Piper appear next to him, replacing his hand with her own to examine the damage gently.

“We should get it patched up anyway,” Piper said matter-of-factly, giving him a sidelong glance. It had been phrased like a question, but meant like an order - Aerrow knew the difference.

So, he let himself be dragged off to the infirmary with her, where he was sat down, whilst Piper busied herself with cotton balls and crystals.

“You know this is going to scar no matter what I do,” she muttered distractedly, as she wiped away the red staining his neck and jaw.

“Really?” Aerrow answered brightly, with just a tad too much enthusiasm, looking sheepish as a mildly amused eyebrow was raised.

“You could at least _pretend_ not to be thrilled.”

Aerrow shrugged unapologetically. “I’m a bad liar.”

He heard her exhale through her nose at that, in silent agreement. “You can say that again.”

Oh no. He knew where this was going.

“You ready to tell me about that nightmare now?” the mage asked conversationally, though there was an unmistakable, pressing edge to it that made it clear he didn’t really have a choice.

“It wasn’t anything new,” he gave in reluctantly, following the lines in the floor plates with his feet. “Which is why it was so weird.”

“What do you mean?” Piper asked, moving the first aid kit and used swabs to one side to sit beside him, eyes curious.

“Well, it was like we were back in that last battle, on Cyclonia. Then, we won. And then we were here.”

“Huh,” is all Piper said, which didn’t exactly fill him with confidence.

“Maybe the fact we haven’t found Cyclonis yet is just getting to you?” she offered next, not looking too convinced with her own theory, but Aerrow was grateful nonetheless.

“Maybe you’re right.”

“You just need to turn that big sky knight brain off sometimes,” she joked affectionately, ruffling his hair once before letting her fingers linger, playing with the unruly strands absentmindedly.

“Thanks,” Aerrow expressed warmly, knocking a shoulder against her lightly.

“Any time,” she countered, finally letting her hand fall from his hair, steeling herself with a determined sigh as she rose. “Now, time to go figure out what this crystal does.”

“Good luck, soldier,” Aerrow called after her playfully.

“Don’t work too hard.”

“No promises,” Piper retorted, turning back to face him with a mock salute. “Try to switch off.”

“No promises.”

Hours later, is when Aerrow finally broke, rolling off the bed with an uncharacteristic grumble after trying (and failing) to switch off.

Hoping a certain someone was having better luck than him, he made his way to Piper’s room, two mugs of tea in tow.

As the door slid open on his arrival and he stepped inside, any hopes very quickly retreated as he was met with a very dishevelled looking crystal mage, hunched over her desk stiffly like she hadn’t moved for some time, eyeballing the mysterious object so intently he half expected a hole to be bore through it.

“Any luck?”he prompted tentatively, to get her attention more than anything. They were very in tune, yes, but even Finn would’ve been able to read the room in this case to gather that, there had in fact been, no luck.

“Nope,” Piper mumbled through gritted teeth, letting the crystal drop from her hand and clatter against the desk loudly, still glaring daggers at it.

“Tea break?” Aerrow offered, stepping closer to place a steaming cup beside her. Finally, Piper tore her gaze away from the crystal, blinking at the beverage momentarily before casting him a grateful smile.

“Absolutely,” she breathed as she leaned back in her chair, stretching gingerly before relaxing, hands wrapping around her cup contentedly.

“If it makes you feel better,” Aerrow started sympathetically, leaning against the desk easily. “I haven’t had much luck switching off either.”

“Wanna try it out together?” Piper suggested, blowing a strand of hair out of her face lazily before extending a hand to Aerrow expectantly.

The redhead glanced between her hand and her face, feigning bewilderment, before raising an eyebrow fondly, pulling her up and over to the bunk easily.

As they settled side by side on the bed, warmed by the hot tea, Aerrow felt himself start to get drowsy, head nodding involuntarily every now and then as Piper shared some obscure fact from the book she had grabbed off the side, an ancient Atmosian philosopher, she said…

_A dark, menacing laugh._

_Then, a man, his face horribly deformed, sections of skin crystalised and glowing an unnatural dark red._

_An unwilling gasp escaped him and he held his breath, praying the man hadn’t noticed him._

_The man’s head snapped toward him sharply, face twisted into a snarl._

_He was getting closer, sword raised ready to swing-_

Aerrow bolted upright, heart racing as found himself disorientated for a moment. Grounding himself as he felt Piper pressed up next to him, he glanced over cautiously, relieved to see she seemed to be sleeping soundly.

So much for switching off, he thought sarcastically. Sleeping was the most switched off a person could get, or it _should’ve_ been, anyway.

Quietly, he slipped out of Piper’s room, needing to get some air and just, make sense of things. He didn’t know any deformed man who wanted to kill him, nor had he ever; but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the nameless man in his dream was familiar somehow.

His silent mulling was put on hold as he stepped onto the bridge, only to be met with the familiar blare of the Condor’s distress signal echoing through the ship.

“Stork,” Aerrow called to the helmsman who was currently darting about at the controls, looking through the scopes erratically. “See anything?”

“Nope, nothing,” Stork reported, sounding mildly frustrated as he continued to survey their surroundings with practiced ease. “Just a lot of _nature_.”

“Oh, great,” Finn started, straightening up from where he had been cowering next to Junko since the pair had arrived. He was using that bored, unbothered tone of voice that meant a freak-out was sure to follow. “An invisible, unknown threat in a place no other group of people has ever returned from. Can’t wait.”

Aerrow threw the blond a sidelong glance. He had really been spending too much time with Stork.

The latter’s ears pricked up at Finn’s comment, not unlike a light-bulb going off in someone’s head.

“Uh, actually,” the merb began, realisation slowly dawning. “The Condor is only programmed to identify threats from _our_ Atmos.”

“Meaning?” Junko asked nervously, hunching over like he felt unwell.

“There’s only one other person we know who definitely got here,” Piper interjected suddenly from behind Aerrow.

He turned to meet her eyes, expression hardening as he realised what that meant.

“Cyclonis.”

On Aerrow’s order, they made for their skimmers, splitting off into two teams in the hopes of surrounding Cyclonis and whatever was left of her nightcrawler army.

*

Finn and Junko were first to land, hiding their skimmers carefully in the undergrowth before advancing on foot, stepping lightly.

“Hey, Finn,” Junko whispered from where he had taken up the rear, a few paces behind. “What do we do if it _is_ Cyclonis?”

“You’re not scared are you, big guy?” Finn teased, half-turning to see Junko shrug awkwardly, letting out a nervous laugh. “We could take her no problem.”

Since Junko didn’t answer, Finn could only assume he was reassured by his response. He really wished the same could be said for him as he turned back to face the front, tightening his grip on his crossbow, glad the wallop couldn’t see his hands shaking.

The sharpshooter froze as rustling sounded within the tall wall of grass surrounding them. He turned to Junko quickly, the pair sharing a nod, a silent agreement to get into position.

“Three,” Finn exhaled, raising his crossbow, stare fixed on his target through the viewfinder, finger poised on the trigger. In the corner of his eye he could see Junko’s knucklebusters glowing green, ready to attack.

“Two.”

“One.”

Finn closed his eyes as he let the shot fire, bracing immediately for any sort of attack or impact, but it never came.

“Nice shot there, blondie,” a familiar, jovial voice sounded from the foliage, before a colourful figure stepped out, arrow in one hand, sceptre in the other. “You almost got me.”

“Arygyn?” Junko gasped incredulously, making Finn straighten up properly, eyes wide.

“The one and only,” Arygyn preened, before glancing at Junko’s still glowing fists.

“Put those out would you, fella. You’re making me nervous.”

“And we thought we were in _actual danger_ ,” Finn scoffed with a roll of his eyes, placing his crossbow in its holster on his back.

“Oh, you are in danger, kid,” Arygyn informed, demeanour suddenly serious. “All of you.”

*

“Is It Cyclonis?” Aerrow asked, feeling only a little guilty as the three guardians before him eyed Radarr warily - it was their own fault for sneaking up on them.

“Not just Cyclonis,” the youngest one corrected emphatically, before gesturing for the elder to step forward.

“What do you mean?” Aerrow demanded, his patience starting to thin at their tendency to speak in riddles and rhymes.

“We do not fully know ourselves,” what Aerrow had come to assume to be their master spoke slowly, sounding apologetic.

“We had Arygyn warn you, in the hopes of preparing you for what is to come, if only a little.”

Aerrow blinked at that. He didn’t recall any overt warning signs. Unless…

“The nightmares,” Aerrow exclaimed suddenly, turning to Piper in understanding. “I guess they were important after all.”

He had been expecting to be met with a knowing look from the mage, but she was too busy narrowing her eyes at the mystical trio skeptically, arms crossed.

“You really couldn’t find a better way to warn him?”

The one dressed in black, with the surly demeanour to match, answered her, sounding annoyed.

“It wasn’t _us_ , girlie. Funny way of showing gratitude.”

“It is known that Arygyn’s ways are perhaps a tad…dramatic,” the youngest stepped in quickly, attempting to keep the peace.

“On his behalf, we apologise. But you must understand an urgent method was required because we-”

The young man’s explanation was interrupted as the whole terrain seemed to shake beneath them, the sound travelling across the entire expanse of land.

“We’ve run out of time,” the guardian finished ominously, looking up as he did so.

Aerrow followed his gaze, a great sense of unease gripping him as a recognisable gleam descended from the sky.

“Back to the Condor, _now,”_ the sky knight instructed, nodding at Piper to make a run for their skimmers as Radarr glued himself to his shoulder, leaving the guardians to take on their bird forms.

He relayed the same message to Finn and Junko via their skimmer intercoms as the pair took off, thankful to see the duo’s skimmers in the air moments later.

Aerrow eyed the distance between them and the Condor with a grimace; Finn and Junko were closer, so they would make it easily, but he wasn’t sure him and Piper could get get there without getting torn to shreds. If they stepped on it, maybe…

He had just opened his mouth to tell Piper to go ahead when he heard a strangled cry from behind him, he turned, eyes widening at the sight before him.

The guardians, all of them, were struggling to stay suspended in the air as the violet crystals attached themselves to their bodies with sickening speed and precision.

“Hang on!” Aerrow cried, before flying over to one of them, unsheathing a dagger from his back, and doing his best to dislodge the crystals as the shower only got stronger, the pointed tips cutting through the fabric of his clothes like they were nothing.

“Titan’s Might!” he heard Piper shout and suddenly the rocks were falling away harmlessly, and he could pull the crystals away from the guardian’s feathered body with ease.

“Shouldn…ve..don..at..”

Concentrating on pulling the shards away faster than they could appear, Aerrow couldn’t decipher the message until he spotted Piper mirroring his actions, the power of the binding still protecting her - but also making her vulnerable.

He tried to warn her as he watched her slowly being buried in the shards herself, but found with a jolt that he couldn’t speak. Panic only increased as he looked down to see his entire body pulsing a deep violet.

*

“Something’s wrong,” Finn muttered tensely, squinting into the distance as he and Junko waited in the shelter of the hangar bay.

He couldn’t even ask Arygyn what was happening - one minute he had been there and the second the shower had started he was gone.

He would just have to go and see for himself.

“Stork!” Finn yelled up to the bridge. “Follow me.”

He heard Junko shout something as he started up his skimmer, wincing as the downpour cut at him.

With a gasp, he saw that the shards thankfully hadn’t torn them into strips, but instead they seemed to be…suffocating them?

Bracing, he flew closer to Aerrow, who was almost entirely covered except for his eyes. The way they looked made Finn’s blood run cold. Helpless, terrified.

Before he could fly around to Piper he spotted Radarr huddled down in the carrier pilot’s cockpit, doing his best to avoid being hit, though he looked like he desperately wanted to run to his boy’s aid.

Finn reached for him, biting back a cry of pain as his arm was left completely open to attack. In the corner of his eye, he noticed the light seemed to be growing brighter and more painful with each pulsation.

Closing his eyes, he turned away and made a desperate grab for the creature. Just as his fingers closed around soft fur he felt someone pull him away forcefully, before a blinding purple blast sent them soaring through the air.

Finn lost his hold on Radarr as they bounced across the cold, hard floor of the hangar bay, dull pain flashing through his head before darkness took over.

**Author's Note:**

> whats up CLOWNS this chapter has been sat in my documents for uuuhhh maybe a year since i was incapable of sitting my ass DOWN and actually planning out whats supposed to happen and kept zoning out and imagining it instead
> 
> however i have now made sure i know how many chapters there will be and what happens in each so FINALLY after 5 years of me saying i will write this but not i am in fact writing it
> 
> anyway i hope whatever is left of this fandom enjoys this and pls leave me comments about what u thought!! also come shout at me @massapeccatiblr on tumblr if u want i am Always There


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